


An Unexpected Turn of Events

by LadyPaigeC



Series: 31 Days of Ficmas 2018 [2]
Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who & Related Fandoms, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: 31 Days of Ficmas, CAROLLING, F/M, Fluff, Human AU, Lights, Love, Shiver, Shopping, scarf
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-18
Updated: 2018-12-18
Packaged: 2019-09-21 16:53:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,545
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17047016
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LadyPaigeC/pseuds/LadyPaigeC
Summary: John Smith never expected to ever see the woman who had left him dumbfounded on the pavement outside a department store again, but fate and his secretary had other plans.





	An Unexpected Turn of Events

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the 31 Days of Ficmas event @doctorroseprompts on Tumblr.
> 
> Prompts used: Shopping / Carolling / Lights / Shiver / Scarf / Love

Rose’s phone picked the absolute worst time to start ringing. She was running late for lunch with her mum after queuing with the hoards of other people who had apparently also decided today was the day for Christmas shopping. She juggled several large shopping bags to dig through her handbag. _Ugh, why can I never find anything in this stupid bag?_

Still looking down, Rose pushed the heavy door opened and stepped onto the pavement outside Henrik’s department store. She had just pulled the phone from her bag when she collided with someone heading past the shop.

“Oof.” 

Rose’s mobile went flying out of her hand. She really hoped that it had abruptly stopped ringing because she didn’t get it in time, rather than it being smashed beyond repair after hitting the ground.

A masculine voice drew her attention away from the brief scan for her phone. “I’m so sorry.” 

Rose froze when she met the most gorgeous blue eyes she’d ever seen. The rest of the man wasn’t too bad either - tall, fit, handsome in a non-traditional way.

She blinked a few times before coming back to herself. “Sorry. Wasn’t watching where I was going.” 

The man chuckled. “Neither was I. Won’t catch me doing that again.” He gave her a grin that would have looked daft on anyone else, but made her breath catch in her throat.

She spotted her phone and crouched down to pick it up. “Well, no harm done.”

He ran a hand through his short cropped hair. “Yeah, I’m sorry again-”

“Not your fault!” She gave him a tongue touched smile, before glancing over her shoulder. “Sorry. I’m really late. Gotta run.” 

She hurried off and John stood gobsmacked. One little smile from a gorgeous woman and he lost his wits. He shook himself out of it and noticed his own phone lying on the pavement. He grabbed it, shoved it in his pocket, and continued on to the tube.

\--

John dropped a pile of tests on his assistant’s desk while muttering to himself. Donna looked at the messy pile and then back at her boss with a raised eyebrow. “Well, hello to you too.”

"Sorry. Hi, Donna." 

The ringing of a mobile had them both looking for their phones. John pulled his out of his coat pocket and frowned. 

“Aren’t you gonna answer that, Spaceman?”

“It’s...I don’t know who it is.”

“Well, that’s why we answer it. To find out.”

“No. I mean, there’s a picture and a name that pop up, ‘Micks,’ it says. But I don’t know who he is.”

“Let me see.” 

Donna looked at the picture of a young man winking and sticking his tongue out at the camera. After the call went to voicemail, several missed call alerts and text message notifications popped up on the screen. She tried to access the main screen, but discovered the phone needed a password.

“What’s your password?”

“What? You know I don’t have a password. You just-”

She held the phone up so he could see. “It’s asking for one.”

“Shit! I bumped into this woman on my way here...”

“Woman?”

If the tips of John’s ears pinkened, he ignored it; but Donna’s eagle eyes didn’t miss anything. “...We both dropped our mobiles. This must be hers. An’ she’s probably got mine. What’re the chances we have the same phone?”

Donna rolled her eyes and laughed. “I bet you half of Britain has that phone.”

“What? Really?”

“Really.”

“Why’d I let you talk me into a fancy phone like this? If I’d just gotten a simple one, we wouldn’t be in this situation right now.” John crossed his arms and glared.

“Because you needed a phone that was from this century. Don’t you like the app that lets you input grades directly into the university system? Said it made your life easier.”

He grumbled, “Still doesn’t get me my phone back.”

“Oh! Do you have the Find It app?”

“The what?”

“My god! My 80 year old gramps is more tech savvy than you are.”

“Oi! I’m tech savvy. Got a doctorate in engineering, me. I just don’t see the point of constantly oversharing everything about yourself and being connected 24 hours a day…”

Donna tuned him out, unlocked her mobile, and shot off a text.

“...Nobody stops to just get out and appreciate the beauty of the universe. It’s all twaddler this and instant shots and snap...grams.”

Donna’s phone beeped. She opened the text and scribbled something onto a post-it note.

“Twitter. Instagram. Snapchat.” She slapped the post-it to his leather jacket and smiled.

John peeled the tiny square from his chest and squinted. “Wha’s this?”

“This is the address where you’re meeting Rose to get your phone back.”

“Who? What?”

“Rose. The woman…” He blushed again. _Interesting._ “...you crashed into. This is the address of a little cafe she’s at right now.”

“How did… How? How do you know all this?”

“Just ‘cos your a great big outer space dumbo…”

“Oi! Astrophysicist.”

“...doesn't mean I am. I sent a text to your phone briefly explaining what happened. Figured she might not realize she didn't have her own mobile and would open the text automatically. She’s as eager to get her mobile back as you are.”

John shook his head in amazement. “You're brilliant, you are, Donna.” 

Donna blushed, but cheekily blew on her nails and polished them on her shoulder. “What can I say?”

He patted her arm and headed for his office.

“Oi! Where do you think you're going?”

“I have office hours.”

“It's bloody end of term and you had your last final on Wednesday. Nobody's showing up for office hours, except maybe that Lynda with a Y, who’s a bit sweet on you.”

“She is not!"

“Oblivious you are,” Donna sighed. “Anyway, there’s no reason you can’t go meet Rose now.”

John stood staring at Donna.

She pushed him toward the exit. “Shoo...let’s go...get a move on.”

“Oi!”

\--

John walked up to the little cafe listed on the post-it note and rubbed the back of his neck nervously. Before he could step through the doors, Rose was coming outside to meet him.

She smiled brilliantly and grabbed his hand. “Mum and I are sitting by the window. I saw you walk up. Come on, join us for a bite to eat.”

John glanced from their clasped hands to her face. “What?”

“Sorry.” Rose blushed and dropped his hand. 

“I didn’t mind.” As the words left his mouth, John could feel his own face heating up.

“No?” Rose bit her lip.

“No.” John offered her his hand again and after she clasped it, led him into the cafe toward her table.

“Let me buy you lunch. It’s the least I could do for bringin’ my phone all the way here.”

“You don’t have to do that. It’s my fault you lost it in the first place.”

“Are we back at that again? Thought we’d agreed neither of us was paying attention.” This time when she smiled a hint of tongue poked out the side of her mouth and it had his heart skipping a beat.

“Right.”

“Rose.” Rose turned her head at her mum’s voice. They’d made it to Rose’s table, and her mum was watching them like a hawk.

“John, this is my mum, Jackie. Mum, this is John. He’s the one I accidentally switched phones with.”

John stuck his hand out to shake hands, but Jackie stood and crossed her arms. 

She looked him up and down. “John, eh, what are you? 40-45?”

“Oi! I’m 38!”

“Prey on young girls? Bump into them, take their phone, and then set up another meeting with them?”

He shook his head. “What? No!” 

“Mum,” Rose hissed, “stop it!”

“I’m a doctor-”

“Doctor? Prove it. Stitch this, mate.” She swung her hand and slapped him across the face.

John grabbed his cheek, shock over the slap had him opening and closing his mouth, but no words came out.

“Mum! Oh my god, John, are you okay?” Rose pulled his hand from his face and gently ran her fingers across the reddening mark.

“I’ve never been slapped by someone’s mother before.”

“That’ll give him second thoughts about abducting you.”

John sputtered, “Ab-abduct! Why I never-”

“Mum, stop it. Every conversation with you just goes mental. He’s a respectable professor. He’s just here to give me my mobile back, and that was my fault. I grabbed his by mistake.”

Jackie’s eyebrow lifted. “Professor? I thought he was a doctor?”

John sighed. “I’m a doctor of education, engineering, physics, astronomy and aerospace sciences. Those are PhDs not medical doctorates. I teach astrophysics at UCL.”

“And do you make enough to support a family?”

“What?”

“Mum!”

“Well, do ya?”

“I, erm, I do all right.”

“Are you married?”

“No!”

“Divorced?”

“No.”

“Kids?"

John’s face dropped a little at that question, but he shook his head. “I don’t have any family. My parents died in an accident when I was at university, and no siblings. There’s no one else, just me.”

Jackie softened and patted his hand. “An’ you promise to be respectful of my Rose?”

His eyes darted to Rose who had her face covered by both hands. “I, er, of course. But-”

“Okay. You two can go get chips. I know Rose’s been dying for them and they don’t serve ‘em here.” Jackie sat back down and sipped her tea.

Rose picked up her handbag and shopping before grabbing John’s hand and towing him from the cafe. “I am so sorry about that! She’s just so...embarrassing.”

“She’s just looking out for you.”

Rose groaned. “I can’t believe she slapped you, she’s not usually that bad.”

John raised his free hand to his face. “Don’t remind me. It still hurts.”

“Your face though.” Rose giggled. 

“Oi! I’m the injured party here, no takin’ the mick.”

Rose pressed her face against John’s leather encased arm to hide her smile. “Sorry.”

John dropped Rose’s hand and stopped short. “Wait a minute.” Rose looked at him expectantly. “Did your mum just set us up on a date?”

“Oh, do you not want this to be a date?”

“No, it’s not that, I just...do _you_ want this to be a date?”

Rose shrugged.

“Your mum was right, there’s a bit of an age gap. And I know I’m not some pretty boy-”

Rose placed her hand on his. “I think you’re very handsome. And I...I’d like to get to know you better. So, yes. I do want this to be a date.”

His eyes widened. “You do?”

Rose rolled her own. “I smell chips. Do you smell chips?”

John sniffed the air and smiled. “Yeah.”

“Come on.” Rose entwined their fingers and they once again started walking toward the chippy. She threw a flirtatious wink over her shoulder. “‘Sides, my mum already approves of you."

"That was approval?"

"Well, at the end there or she never would have let me leave with you alone. Most guys would’ve run in the other direction. And that’s a big turn on that you didn't.”

“Ugh. Please don’t mention your mum and turn ons at the same time ever again.”

Rose laughed. “Alright. How ‘bout your bum?”

John squeaked, “My what?”

“It’s another turn on.” Rose’s eyes drifted down to said feature and then up. She met his eyes with a grin. “You have a very nice arse.”

He blurted out, “I was a runner.”

“Were you now?”

“I still am, but don't run as much as I used to. Did marathons and the like when I was a bit younger.”

“I was a gymnast.”

A smile broke out over John’s face. “Were you now?” he parroted back.

Rose’s eyes twinkled mischievously. “Mmhmm. I’m very flexible.”

“Fantastic.”

 

 

\--

One Year Later:

 

John and Rose strolled hand in hand past Trafalgar Square with its brightly lit tree and its Christmas carollers. Rose pointed to one particular trombonist wearing a full santa outfit and giggled. His cheeks were as rosy as Father Christmas’ from his rather enthusiastic blowing.

John steered her toward the chippy that was the scene of their first date. “We haven’t been here in ages. Chips?”

“Do you even have to ask?”

Chips in hand, they made their way toward the northbank. They finished their snack by the time they got to Whitehall Gardens. John binned their rubbish and then turned to his girlfriend. “Do you remember when we first met?”

“When we bumped into each other or later at the cafe?”

“The cafe.”

“Hard to forget that meeting.” Rose ran her fingers along John’s cheek.

“I’d been so alone, for so long.”

Rose shivered and John readjusted her scarf so it covered more of her neck and chin. He wrapped her up in a hug and kissed her forehead. “Come on, let’s keep moving so you don’t freeze.”

Rose snuggled into his side and let him drape his arm over her shoulder. “Not with you by my side.”

The walked under festive decorations and when they reached the water, they looked across at the blue lights dotting the trees along the Queen’s Walk. Rose pointed at the giant ferris wheel. “Since we’re talking about firsts. That night with you was my first time on the London Eye.”

John turned to Rose in shock. “You’ve lived here your whole life, and you mean to tell me that was your first time riding the Eye?”

Rose shrugged. “It was always a thing that tourists did.” She ran her hands along his lapels. “But I got to go on it with my very own tourist.”

“Oi! I’ve lived here for 13 years, I’ll have you know.”

“Have you? Still sound like you’re from the North. And I love it.”

John kissed the grin from Rose’s lips, and when he pulled back his voice was gravelly, “Our first kiss was that night.”

“Mmhmm.”

“We...we’ve had lots of firsts this year.”

“Yeah. And lots of seconds, thirds, and fourths too.” She threw her arms around his neck and rubbed herself against him. She whispered in his ear, “I’m hoping for at least four tonight.”

John gave a strangled laugh. “Whatever my lady wishes.”

“I love you.”

He couldn’t stop the smile that spread across his face. “I love you too, Rose Marion Tyler. And that brings me to something else.” Rose tilted her head and waited and he fidgeted. “I’m so glad I met you.”

“Me too.”

“And...” John took a step away from Rose and dropped to one knee. Rose gasped and her hands flew to her mouth. “I’m hoping that today could be the first day of our forever.”

He pulled a ring box from his pocket and opened it to the most beautiful diamond and sapphire ring she’d ever seen.

“Oh, John.” Rose’s eyes filled with tears.

“Will you marry me, Rose?”

“Yes, yes, yes!”

The moment John was back on his feet Rose threw herself into his arms and peppered his face with kisses.

He laughed and slid the ring on her finger. “Perfect.”

Snow began to lightly fall as they clasped hands and walked back toward their home. “Come on, love. I believe I promised you a night of celebrating.”

She kissed his cheek. “Mmm. Can’t wait.”


End file.
